


Back Porch

by yellowbound



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-05
Updated: 2017-05-05
Packaged: 2018-10-28 04:58:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10824240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellowbound/pseuds/yellowbound
Summary: Jyn and Kay go on a blind date and Cassian has to clean up the mess.





	Back Porch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [InvaderHog](https://archiveofourown.org/users/InvaderHog/gifts).



> This was written for [invaderhogtwopointohno](http://invaderhogtwopointohno.tumblr.com/) for the Rebelcaptain May the 4th gift exchange.

“How do I look?” Jyn asked, stepping out of the door onto the back porch. She didn’t stop to think about why she was asking for Cassian’s opinion. When he wasn’t away on assignment, he could normally be found on the back porch that stretched across both sides of the duplex.

“Good.” The warmth in his voice made the word sound more positive than it was - the lovely smile he gave her had the same effect.

“Thanks,” she said, smiling back. “Um.” Her purpose obtained, she suddenly felt the awkwardness of the situation. “Have a good evening,” she offered weakly. She suddenly wished she was staying here, on the back porch with him, like she normally did. But everyone in her life - her parents, Leia and Han, Bodhi - were urging her to ‘get out there’ and ‘not hide away in your house with no furniture, God, Jyn, you make me look good’ (“Thanks, Han,” she had said, no real thanks in her voice).

“Good luck,” he said, lifting his mug of coffee to her in a kind of salute.

As it turned out, she really should’ve just stayed on the back porch. How could she have trusted Han Solo to set her up on a blind date? 

She didn’t know how she knew from one look at the tall, severe-looking man at the bar that things were going to go poorly, but she had. However, she also told herself not to judge a book by its cover.

She really should’ve judged, though, because her judgements were entirely correct in this instance.

“Do you really think watching men kick a ball around is a valuable use of your time?”

“Yes,” she growled. She really hated talking to men about sports. Normally, when they found out she liked football, they immediately started to try to catch her out, by asking her to explain the offsides rule or claiming she just liked it because the men were hot. Somehow this pretentious asshole, who didn’t even like sports, was nevertheless trying to make her feel inferior about sports.

“I prefer to spend my time reading John Chesterfield’s three-volume work on the Crusades. Are you familiar with it?”

“No,” said Jyn. She was frantically trying to think of a way out of this mess.

“It is far more exciting than a football match. Chesterfield’s scholarship is top-notch.”

“Actually, I prefer Niall Ferguson’s scholarship.”

Jyn was a bit surprised when he physically leaned away from her in horror, instead of reacting with glee. “Ferguson’s scholarship is appalling. His inability to build a cohesive narrative from his research seriously undermines any point he is attempting to make.”

“His research really isn’t all that, either.”

He frowned at her, confused. “You just said you prefered his scholarship.”

“Yeah, well, that doesn’t mean I like it.” She actually found Ferguson awful, she had just been hoping that mentioning him would keep Kay talking for awhile without any input from her. “I was expecting you to launch into a long soliloquy on his attributes. People like you normally like Ferguson.”

“‘People like me?’”

She was prevented from answering by Kay fixating on someone who had just entered the bar. For awhile now, he had been watching everyone that came in with an expectant look on his face. She had thought probably in hope that his real date would appear. Jyn frowned as she realized that she knew who was approaching them.

“Oh, good, my ride is here.” All at once, Jyn’s attention snapped back to the man sitting next to her.

“Your ride? You can’t drive yourself to your date?”

“I assumed there would be alcohol.” He looked down at her beverage. “You’re not driving yourself, are you?”

She snorted. “Of course I am driving myself home!” She could handle a drink. Well, at the moment, she felt like having a lot of drinks and then calling a cab, and feeling that intensified as Cassian approached them. Jyn was both mortified and angry. How did he know this asshole? “Kay… Jyn,” he said, greeting them in turn.

“You know her?” Kay asked, clearly taken aback.

“She is my neighbor.”

Kay looked her over, not for the first time that night. “You did not mention that she was extremely irritating.” Great, thought Jyn, he’s discussed me with this idiot.

“She’s not.” To Jyn: “I’m sorry.” When he offered to pay for their drinks and get Kay out of there, Jyn told him he sure as hell wasn’t doing that and she was going to stay there, drinking.

“But you drove yourself here! How will you get home?”

“It’s called a cab, Kay,” said Cassian and then to Jyn, “I can’t promise he won’t call the cops on you. Why don’t you let me take you home, now, and then we can worry about your car later?” 

Before she could respond to that, Kay added, “You should listen to him. Cassian is a sensible person.”

‘Sensible’ was not how she would describe him, not if he had the role in this debacle she thought he did, but to get this over with, she agreed to go with them. Besides, it would give her a chance to confront him about all of this.

Kay, mercifully, did not live far away, leaving Jyn and Cassian alone in the car.

Jyn crossed her arms over her chest. “So how do you know Han Solo?”

“Who?”

“Don’t give me that. You worked with Han to set me up on that date.”

“I would never set Kay up on a date with anyone.”

Jyn had wondered how long he could keep the act up, wherein he looked horrified at this situation instead of enjoying it, but just maybe it wasn’t an act. She was still expecting Han to pull up in a car while they idled at a red light any moment, gleefully shouting about how he had played her.

Getting no response from her, Cassian added, “When he told me he was going on a blind date, I tried to talk him out of it. He doesn’t handle surprises well.”

“If you didn’t set him up, then who did?”

“His friend Cee.”

“Ah.” Cee. Who worked for Leia. Who knew Han. Yes, Cee definitely had the poor judgment required for this.

By this time, they were pulling into the spot in front of the duplex. “You know Cee?” Cassian asked, as he turned the car off.

“Yeah. That explains things. If I had known Cee was involved…”

“You wouldn’t have done it.”

She shook her head, sighed, and leaned back into the car seat. She heard Cassian get out, and wasn’t surprised when the door on her side opened. “I promise never to mention it again.”

“Can you get Kay to never mention it again?” she asked, swinging her legs out of the car.

“I will do my best.”

“Thank you,” she said, fumbling for her keys as she moved towards her door. She looked down at herself. “It’s a shame I got all dressed up for no one to appreciate it.”

“I wouldn’t say that.” Cassian had closed the car door behind her, and was moving towards his front door, so close to hers.

She looked up at him, startled. “You wouldn’t?”

He looked embarrassed. He had pretty much looked embarrassed from the moment he had shown up in the bar, but subtle changes in his expression told her he was somehow even more embarrassed now.

He stuck his tongue out slightly, a gesture Jyn had learned meant he had made up his mind about something, and said, “I appreciate it.” She was a bit too startled to say anything, but she didn’t run, so he added, “I know you didn’t get dinner, I could make some pasta if you’re interested.”

She had enjoyed Cassian’s cooking before, of course, when he had found her on the back porch they shared and offered him some of what he had been making. This felt different, though, like he was offering to cook especially for her.

She wondered briefly if he was Kay’s friend because he looked good by comparison, but she quickly shoved that uncharitable thought aside, he had done nothing to deserve it. She was still somewhat stressed out from the disaster her date had been, and she didn’t know how good of company she would be. On the other hand, she didn’t want to be alone, and she did want to eat, and Cassian was used to her moping on the back porch, and she really was dressed too nicely to drink whatever alcohol she had in the house while eating ice cream out of a container and cursing Han Solo’s name.

She realized she was taking to long with her answer when he said, “Look, Jyn, don’t worry-”

“I’m interested.”

His worried, embarrassed look was replaced by relieved embarrassment. He held his door open for her.

Jyn had seen plenty of his kitchen from the back porch but very little of the rest of his house. It was warm, inviting, comfortable - a lot like Cassian, really. He spent weeks away on assignment when reporting on the global effects of climate change - he had seen famine, drought, disease. He just liked to come home to something comforting, and alive, which is why their shared backyard was overflowing with greenery that went untended while he was away.

“Would you like something to drink?”

She was desperate for some alcohol but said, “I really need to eat something first.”

He smiled and in short order a plate of cheese, crackers and fruit appeared in front of her. Jyn had to stop herself from blurting out “How the fuck are you still single?” because she knew what his job required of him, she knew that was why he came home to an empty house and overgrown garden with an new, irritable neighbor who made him feel unwelcome the first time she saw him.

“So…” Cassian began, trying to sound casual, as he pulled food out of the fridge. “Who is this Han Solo?”

Jyn smiled. “A friend from college. Now that he finally got up the nerve to actually get engaged, he keeps trying to hook everyone else up. He’s terrible at it. I don’t know why he thinks he’d be any good, either, he danced around Leia for years before anything happened between them. I said yes to his latest offer just to get him to leave me alone.”

“Ah,” he said as he smiled at her. Then, changing the subject completely: “You okay with mushrooms?”

“Sure,” she said. But she wasn’t ready to let this go. “So you knew I was going on a date, and someone had set Kay up on a date, but you didn’t bother to check to see if it was with one another?”

“I thought it was too improbable. Besides, you didn’t tell me you were going on a blind date, just a date.” He looked over his shoulder at her, somewhat apprehensively. “How long are you going to blame me for this?”

“I can’t blame you, you’re too cute and you feed me.” Cassian’s answering blush told her he didn’t expect to hear those words any more than she expected to say them. He quickly turned back to his cooking - Jyn knew her cheeks must be burning as well. She wished she hadn’t turned down alcohol earlier, she could use some now to drown her embarrassment.

Instead, Jyn watched Cassian as he worked at the counter while she munched on the food he had already provided for her. _Is there a particular reason you left out the fact that your new neighbor is really good looking?_ Leia’s words floated through Jyn’s mind. Leia had gotten a look at him one day when she stopped by Jyn’s house to drop some things off. Leia didn’t like Jyn living in an apartment with no furniture. Jyn didn’t mind - her old furniture had been too much of a reminder of her past life, that she was trying to move on from, and it had been cheap, anyway. Leia, the daughter of a senator, her life mapped out before her, did not do and had never done ‘cheap’.

Jyn had thought about answering Leia with glib remarks like ‘don’t let Han hear you say that’ or ‘I didn’t think it mattered’, but Leia never would’ve been satisfied with that. Leia dealt well with honesty, though, so Jyn had told her she didn’t want to talk about it, and Leia let the matter drop. Or maybe she hadn’t. Leia knew Han, knew Cee. Leia could’ve stopped this whole thing, only she didn’t. Maybe Leia had let it go through, so Jyn would realize she was interested in her cute neighbor. Fine, Leia. Jyn would admit that to herself. She was interested in her cute neighbor. Who was currently cooking for her. Sometimes Jyn felt that they were all being carefully manipulated by Leia, and there wasn’t anything any of them could do about it. Her missteps with Han had been caused mostly by the fact that Han was about as far removed from who Leia thought she should be marrying as possible (and also by the fact that Han was Han).

“Are you ready for that drink?” he asked, with a brief glance over his shoulder.

“Sure,” she said, standing up as she said it. “If you’ll tell me-”

“No, no, no,” he said quickly, leaving the food he was preparing to gently push her back to her chair. “I’ll get-”

Instead of letting him push her back further, Jyn pulled him towards her. He had already been leaning down slightly, making it easier for her to pull him down for a kiss.

Several minutes later, when he came up for air, he managed to say, “The pasta will get mushy.”

“You have more,” she said, turning off the burners. She wanted Cassian more than she wanted food.

(It turned out he did not have more.)

(She, however, had some. From a box of mac-and-cheese.)

(She’ll never forget the horribly cute distressed face he made at having to cook it. She laughed and kissed it off him. “Cassian, I’m hungry.” He grumbled, but was happy to accept her kisses.)

*

Han was there to greet her at work the next day. “Jyn, look, I can explain-” Han was out of his seat, moving his arm in a sweeping motion, as though to push away the debacle he was prominently involved in.

Jyn walked right up to him and kissed him on the cheek. Han, flabbergasted, sputtering, “Wha- what?”

Jyn just smiled at him and walked away. It was all he deserved, really.


End file.
